Above, who has clinched and who’s on the bubble as of Thanksgiving morning.
Bloomfield (S) and Darien (L) joined the field last night.
Today we’ll just about find out the rest. Friday’s Woodland-Seymour game is key for a variety of reasons, mostly for seeding in Class S, but it does have impact in Class L.
Anyway, the Woodland-Seymour game will be played Friday to wrap up the field and the playoff points will be approved by the CIAC at 9 a.m. on Saturday rather than Friday.
We know you’re busy so, here’s the “short-and-sweet” version of what to look for in the state playoff races during Today’s Thanksgiving games. Please don’t ask us to explain this again.
*clinched home quarterfinal. Click the links for the REALTIME qualifying statuses. These will be updated automatically as scores come in.
Here we go.
CLASS LL
- THEY’RE IN!— Newtown* (12-0) [No. 1 seed], Glastonbury* (10-1), NFA (9-1), West Haven (9-1), Hall (9-1)
- JUST WIN, BABY! —Southington (8-1), Fairfield Prep (8-2).
- A LITTLE HELP HERE? — Staples (8-2), Ridgefield (9-2), Trumbull (8-2).
- HAIL MARY — Xavier (7-3), McMahon (7-2).
Newtown is the top seed. NFA will be either the No. 3 or No. 2 seed if it beats New London. West Haven will likely jump to No. 2 with a win and host Staples or Ridgefield. It’ll probably drop to No 5 and a trip to Hall with a loss. Glastonbury is in line for the No. 4 unless teams above them lose and could get a rematch with Hall.
Southington’s in line for the No. 6 seed. Unless it loses. Then it needs to hope Prep, Staples and Trumbull lose.
Staples is in the best position of the bubble teams. The Wreckers must win and then just get two bonus games to get to 1310 points to clinch.
Ridgefield needs Staples, Prep or Southington to lose and then hope it stays ahead of Trumbull on bonus games, which is favorable.
Trumbull needs to win and get two of Prep, Staples and Southington to lose.
Idle Xavier needs Staples, Prep and Trumbull to all lose and then one more bonus game to come in to stay ahead of McMahon.
CLASS L
- THEY’RE IN! — New Canaan* (11-0), Platt (10-0), Middletown (10-1), Darien (9-1)
- JUST WIN, BABY! — Naugatuck (9-1), New London (8-2), Farmington (8-2).
- A LITTLE HELP HERE? — Hand (8-3), Bristol Eastern (8-2), North Haven (8-2).
A New Canaan win and they’re the top seed. A loss and they could fall as far as No. 4. Platt’s in line for the No. 2 seed. Middletown will be the No. 3 unless Darien wins. Then it’s a foot race. Darien could go from anywhere between No. 4 and No. 7 with a loss.
New London would be No. 6 or No. 5 if it won and Naugy lost. It’s done with a loss.
Farmington’s in line to be No. 6 or even No. 5 depending on what those teams do. Farmington is also done with a loss.
The remainder focus is on the three-way race between Hand, Eastern and North Haven for one spot. Or, if Naugatuck loses, a four-way race for two spots.
(Losses by Farmington or New London loss would also open spots, loosening the bottleneck. But let’s leave that aside and consider one spot).
Hand (1270 + 50 bonuses, including North Haven) is already in position and is in great shape with advantages over Eastern, North Haven (and Naugatuck) in the event of a tie. If North Haven also wins, Hand will be able to clinch with just three more bonus games.
Bristol Eastern (Win, 1280 + 40 bonuses) holds the tiebreaker over North Haven. If they get three bonuses (to get to 1310) they’ll clinch over North Haven.
North Haven (Win, 1280 + 40 bonuses) needs either a majority of its bonus games, or Bristol Eastern must be denied a majority of its games, for the Indians to clinch.
Eastern is counting on Hartford Public, E.O. Smith, NWC and Maloney. At least two of those aren’t likely.
North Haven would be counting on Bridgeport Central, Foran, Sheehan and Hillhouse. At least two or three are likely.
If Naugatuck loses to Ansonia (making it a four-way race for two spots), the Greyhounds would also start at 1280. But it only has two bonus games (Torrington and Bunnell) and can only get as high as 1300 if both win. They’d have to get both and hope Bristol Central or North Haven only get one. In the event of a tie, it would come down to tiebreaker points. Naugatuck would likely win that tiebreak if Woodland beats Seymour.
CLASS M
- THEY’RE IN! — Valley Regional* (11-0) [No. 1 seed], St. Joseph (9-2), Brookfield (9-1), Gilbert/Northwestern (8-2), Barlow (8-2).
- JUST WIN, BABY! — Bethel (8-2), Ledyard (8-2), Quinebaug Valley (8-2).
- A LITTLE HELP HERE? — Stonington (7-3), Wolcott (7-3).
- HAIL MARY — Foran (7-3).
Valley’s the No. 1 seed, St. Joseph will likely be the No. 2. With a win Brookfield is likely the No. 3 if it wins. If Brookfield loses it’ll probably be the No. 5 or 6. A Barlow win can jump it over Gilbert/Northwestern and into home quarterfinal. Bethel can also jump GNW to the No. 5 with a win.
If it loses, Bethel will qualify with just one more bonus game. It’s counting on Derby and on Bunnell.
If it loses, Ledyard just needs two bonus game to qualify, as well. It’s counting on Waterford, Killingly (which would clinch for Ledyard.
Stonington’s only hope is to win and have Quinebaug Valley lose. Wolcott’s only hope is for Quinebaug Valley and Stonington lose.
Foran needs to win and get all three of those teams to lose.
CLASS S
- THEY’RE IN — Capital Prep* (11-0) [No. 1 seed], Ansonia* (11-0), Rocky Hill (9-1), Woodland (9-1), Morgan (9-1), Prince Tech (9-2), Bloomfield (9-2).
- JUST WIN, BABY! — Coginchaug (8-2).
- A LITTLE HELP HERE? — Holy Cross (7-3), NWC (7-3)
Cap Prep is the No. 1. A win makes Ansonia No. 2. Rocky Hill will be waiting for the Woodland-Seymour game to determine the No. 3 and No. 4 spot. They can’t fall further than 5. Morgan is likely the No. 5 unless Woodland or Rocky Hill lose. Prince Tech is basically locked in at No. 6 unless teams above them lose. Bloomfield will be anywhere from No. 7 to No. 8. Coginchaug can get as high as No. 7 with a win. Holy Cross would be the No. 8 if it won and Coginchaug lost. NWC will be the No. 8 with a win and losses by Coginchaug and Holy Cross.
